Annual compliance for a private limited company is the set of filings the Companies Act, 2013 requires every year, whether or not the company traded. It means an audit, two ROC forms, an income tax return, director KYC and the board meeting trail behind them. For a Kolkata company the forms go to the Registrar of Companies, West Bengal, the dates cluster between July and October, and the additional fees for missing them grow every day. This page covers how that cycle works from Kolkata and what it costs to have it handled.
What is annual compliance and when is it due?
The financial year closes on 31 March. From that point the clock runs on a fixed sequence:
- Statutory audit of the accounts by a practising chartered accountant
- AGM by 30 September, or within 6 months of the year end
- AOC-4 with the audited financials within 30 days of the AGM
- MGT-7A annual return within 60 days of the AGM
- DIR-3 KYC for every director by 30 September
- ADT-1 within 15 days of the AGM whenever an auditor is appointed or reappointed
- Income tax return by 31 October for an audited company
The ROC forms are filed on the MCA V3 portal and routed to ROC West Bengal because the registered office sits in the state. A Kolkata company's CIN carries the WB code, and that is the registrar whose queries you answer.
Which Kolkata companies must file?
All of them. The family jewellery business in Bowbazar that converted to a private limited company last year carries the same obligations as the engineering unit in Howrah with 40 employees. So does the two director software startup in Salt Lake Sector V that has not invoiced a single client yet. Turnover changes the audit effort, not the list of forms.
Two groups get caught most often in our experience. First, companies incorporated late in the financial year, say February, which still owe a full set of filings for a year with six weeks of activity. Second, companies that stopped trading but never applied for strike off, whose directors discover the additional fees when they try to register a new business.
What happens if you miss a filing?
| Filing | Due date | What a delay costs |
|---|---|---|
| AOC-4 | 30 days after AGM | ₹100 per day of delay, no upper cap |
| MGT-7A | 60 days after AGM | ₹100 per day of delay, no upper cap |
| DIR-3 KYC | 30 September | ₹5,000 per director and the DIN is deactivated |
| ADT-1 | 15 days after AGM | Additional fee scaled by delay, up to 12 times the normal fee |
| Income tax return | 31 October | Late fee up to ₹5,000 plus interest on tax due |
The per day fees are the expensive part because they never stop. A Kolkata company that is one year late on both ROC forms owes about ₹73,000 in additional fees alone. Beyond money, the registrar can mark the company as defaulting, and directors of a company that has not filed for three years face disqualification for five years. That blocks the Howrah factory owner from sitting on the board of the new venture his son wants to start.
How do we file it for you?
- Onboarding in April: we set up a shared folder and a checklist built for how Kolkata businesses keep records, including GST returns, bank statements, sales registers and fixed asset lists.
- Audit in May and June: the chartered accountant audits the books and finalises the balance sheet and profit and loss account well before the September rush.
- Board and AGM papers: the company secretary drafts the four board meeting notices and minutes, the directors report and the AGM notice, and the meetings can run over video.
- Filing window: AOC-4, MGT-7A, ADT-1 and each director's DIR-3 KYC go to ROC West Bengal with digital signatures, and the income tax return is filed with the audit report.
- Close out: you receive every filed form with its challan, a compliance certificate and the next year's calendar.
Because the audit finishes early, resubmission requests from the registrar, which do come up, are handled with weeks to spare rather than hours.
What will we ask you to share?
- Bank statements for all company accounts for the full financial year
- Sales and purchase invoices or the GST returns that summarise them
- Fixed asset purchases and loan statements
- Details of any change in directors, shareholding or registered office during the year
- Digital signatures of the directors, or we help renew expired ones
- Last year's filed financials if you are moving to us from another firm
Most Kolkata clients share everything through the folder in one sitting. A Burrabazar trading company with heavy cash sales needs a little more time on the sales register, and we plan for that.
What does annual compliance cost in Kolkata?
The professional fee is ₹10,499 for the full year, and it covers the audit, both ROC forms, the income tax return, DIR-3 KYC for the directors, four board meetings, the AGM and the calendar. Government filing fees are paid at actuals and depend on authorised capital. For a company with ₹1 lakh capital they run to a few hundred rupees per form, and we itemise them on the invoice.
What the package does not include is fixing a backlog of earlier years. That is priced separately because the additional fees are computed per day and the earlier financials often need reconstruction. We quote it after a quick look at the MCA master data for your company.
West Bengal adds one state layer. A company with staff needs a profession tax registration certificate and monthly deductions, capped at ₹2,500 per person a year. Those dates sit on the same calendar we hand you.
Why choose LegalX India for compliance in Kolkata?
The professional fee is fixed, but the real value is in timing. We audit in May and June because we have watched too many Kolkata companies discover a missing ledger in the last week of September. We are a Kolkata practice, working from 58B, Bidhan Park, Taki Road, Barasat, Kolkata 700124, with CAs and CSs who file with ROC West Bengal every week and know which defects that registrar sends back.
For the rules that apply across India on audit thresholds, penalties and the full form list, read our complete private limited annual compliance guide for India. For the Kolkata schedule, call +91 96356 85435 or request a callback and a CA confirms your due dates and the exact fee within 30 minutes.